Physician counseling leads to reduction in opioid abuse, research suggests

Patients are less likely to save pills if physicians warn them about abuse. | Courtesy of Shutterstock

Annals of Family Medicine recently published a research
brief in its November/December 2016 issue, showing how -- when physicians counsel their patients on the long-term risks of prescription opioid abuse -- they were much less likely to save pills to be used at a later time, a
high-risk behavior linked to opioid abuse.

"We found a clear association between patients
recalling a conversation with their physician about the addictive risks of
prescription painkillers and risky pill-saving behavior, even after adjustment
for sociodemographic differences between these populations," co-author
Joachim Hero, member of the Harvard University Interfaculty
Initiative in Health Policy, said.

Data from the research brief came from two telephone
surveys of adults 18 years of age or older, which was conducted by the
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and The Boston Globe in April 2015.

"We believe these findings add support for the CDC
guidelines regarding educating patients of the addictive risks of prescription painkillers,
but they are by no means definitive and many questions remain," Hero said.

Of the adults who responded to the survey, those who had spoken with their
physicians were 60 percent less likely to save pills.